Stockton East Water District v. United States
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
583 F.3d 1344 (2009)
- Written by Oni Harton, JD
Facts
Stockton East Water District and Central San Joaquin Water Conservation District (the Districts) (plaintiffs) are water agencies providing water to municipal, industrial, and agricultural users. They alleged that the United States (defendant) failed to provide the quantities of water that the United States agreed to provide. The Districts claimed to have binding contracts for the water and that the United States had breached its contracts. The United States raised affirmative defenses to the breach-of-contract claim. In the first affirmative defense, the government claimed it had the implicit authority to reallocate the water in response to a law and public policy change. In the second affirmative defense, the United States claimed that the shortages were the result of causes beyond the control of the United States. In its third affirmative defense, the United States asserted that the sovereign-acts doctrine provided a defense. The trial court rejected each affirmative defense. The trial court found that the United States failed to provide the water that was promised under the contracts for several years.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Plager, J.)
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